In the Squish IDE the existing (default) keyboard shortcuts can be viewed and changed at Edit > Preferences > General > Keys:

Filtering the commands list

As the above screenshot shows, there is a long list of commands which keyboard shortcuts are and can be assigned to. To quickly see only the keyboard shortcuts that relate closely to Squish one can enter “squish” into the type filter text text field. This will trim down the list considerably (note the scrollbar on the right which indicates less entries compared to the previous screenshot):

With this “fine tuned” command list it is now a simple task to discover the available actions and their existing keyboard shortcuts.

Assigning keyboard shortcuts

To assign a keyboard shortcut select the desired command, click into the Binding: text field and press the desired shortcut. Then click on Apply or OK and you are done.

(As can be seen in the screenshots, the keyboard shortcut functionality has a way to specify when a command’s keyboard shortcut should be active (When:). However, his is something that can typically be ignored, and is in fact part of the Eclipse heritage.)

Actions worthwhile a keyboard shortcut

In general, the most efficient keyboard shortcuts for me are the ones for actions which I do many times throughout a single day, for example:

Execute currently selected test case

Stop script execution at a breakpoint

Start snippet recording

Set/remove breakpoint

Convert symbolic name to real name

Change a preference, for example the web browser used by Squish for Web (see the command Preferences (Squish > Browser))

Also related to “shortcuts” and “productivity”

Ctrl+Left click:
In many cases it is possible to press+hold Ctrl and left mouse click on symbolic names, function invocations, etc. in the script editors. This will typically to navigate directly to the definition of the symbolic name, function, etc. or to get a list of possible actions.

Tiling windows:
Most operating systems offer “tiling” of the windows on the screen: For example to have the Squish IDE on the right half of the screen, and the application on the left half of the screen, so that both are visible at the same time. This can avoid repetitive, time consuming, manual window management (bringing windows to the foreground by click on task bar, or worse, move windows left and right to get to the desired window).
On many operating systems this functionality is available via Windows+arrow keys. (For Windows see How to snap your apps to your screen in Windows 10.)

froglogic is a privately owned company which has been founded in 2003 and is known for its automated testing suite Squish with its flagship product Squish GUI Tester, the market-leading automated testing tool for GUI applications.